


saying something heartfelt and generic about love

by celestialbisexual



Category: Archive 81 (Podcast)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Implied Sexual Content, Let! Nicholas! And! Morgan! Be! Friends, M/M, Platonic Cuddling, Slow-ish burn, brief mention of drug use, brief x-men references, no one is stopping them but still, the tags make this sound a lot darker than it is i promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2020-05-15 04:39:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19288318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialbisexual/pseuds/celestialbisexual
Summary: After the Blacktop, they make a home.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so the consent issues thing I mentioned in the tags is that Nicholas mentions briefly that he and Static Man broke off their kind-of relationship in part because he was uncomfortable with the power that the vassal ritual gave him over Static Man. Static Man and Nicholas also talk about smoking weed. 
> 
> I think that's anything that needs to get tagged but please please let me know if you need any other tags. Thanks! 
> 
> Title is from "Being a Person" by Squalloscope

Nicholas Waters was not a cuddler by nature. He didn’t think Morgan was either, really. But it had been a long time since either of them had had any meaningful human contact and were probably both a little touch-starved, so it was reasonable that they should seek out that physical contact with someone who was low-risk and easily available and assuredly platonic.

 

Which was a very scientific way of saying that they were currently curled up together in an armchair like kittens, watching a documentary about cats in Scotland.

 

“So what’s Static Man’s deal?” Morgan asked, not raising her head from his chest. The entity in question was gone for the night, some sort of favor for a previous client. Nicholas didn’t like him doing these jobs, but Static Man was insistent that he needed to hang out with other people, and he liked having money that didn’t come from Nicholas. 

 

“He’s an entity made out of static and teeth who only exists while being recorded and is searching for a human body. I thought that we made that pretty obvious.” Nicholas glanced down at her, brow furrowed. 

 

“No I mean like is he queer?” Morgan explained. “I mean, obviously don’t answer if you can’t, but like, I was just wondering because I thought he was hitting on me when we first met, which like,  _ yikes _ , but he was also kinda flirting with that dude with all the eyeballs, so…”

 

“Oh yeah no he’s- pan I’m pretty sure. He’s definitely into women but-” Nicholas broke off, trying to choose his next words. Morgan apparently read something into his silence and lifted her head off of his chest.

 

“Oh my god I  _ knew  _ you two had a thing!” She crowed.

 

“No! I mean yes, we were- but I just meant that he’s mentioned previous relationships with men. Other than me.” Morgan was still watching him, one eyebrow cocked expectantly and a smug half-smile on her lips. Sometimes she reminded him so much of his sister it hurt, and never more than when she was getting him to admit something he didn’t want to. 

 

“After my father died Static Man and I were- I don’t know,  _ together _ in some capacity but it wasn’t exactly- I don’t know that I would call it  _ a thing _ . And we aren’t anymore. Together, I mean. It was… it was just complicated-”

 

“Can’t exactly fuck a dude made of static and teeth?” Morgan asked.

 

“No that wasn’t- I mean we worked around that, there are some really fascinating uses for-”

 

“I don’t wanna know.” 

 

“That’s fair. But I meant with the vassal relationship. I mean I’m technically his… boss, for want of a better word, and I can command him to do whatever I- not that I ever  _ would _ of course. I wouldn’t.” That last part came out more forceful than he’d intended, and Morgan patted his arm.

 

“Never said you would.” She told him. “You’re an asshole, but you’re not that much of an asshole. You’re not like your dad.”

 

Nicholas didn’t think he’d ever get tired of hearing that, especially from someone he trusted. Morgan was smart, and had enough resources now that she wasn’t completely dependent on him. She had no reason to lie. 

 

She settled back down, grousing at him to move his arms to a more comfortable position, and they watched in silence for awhile. She tried, again, to convince him to get a cat for the house, and he told her, again, that it was not a good idea. 

 

“So do you think anything’s going to happen with you two once he has a body? And he’s not bound to you and stuff.”

 

Nicholas sighed. “I don’t know. I mean, he’s- he’s my closest friend, and I like him a lot, but… if we’d met under any other circumstances we… wouldn’t have, honestly. We’re very different people. And I have no idea what he even wants to do once he has a body, other than go into a Popeye’s induced coma.”

 

Morgan laughed. “Yeah, that’s fair. He’s doesn’t really talk about it much, does he? After.”

 

“Or before. He’s quite the man of mystery. Or being of mystery, I suppose.” 

 

“A regular staticy James Bond.” Morgan agreed. Then she turned serious. “I think he’s scared.”

 

“He punched a god once. I don’t think he’s scared of much.” Nicholas told her. She wasn’t wrong though, and he’d seen that vulnerability in Static Man too, but- it always felt like something he wasn’t meant to see. Like peering through someone’s open window into some horrible private tragedy. Nicholas did his best to pretend he hadn’t seen, and Static Man always did the same for him. It was safer.

 

“Punching a god and talking about your feelings are two very different beasts.” Morgan said, in a tone that said he hadn’t done as good a job of hiding his discomfort as he had hoped. She shrugged though, and remarked, “well anyway, I think you should keep an open mind or whatever. You never know what might happen.”

 

“What should Nicholas keep an open mind to?” Static Man asked, appearing abruptly behind their armchair and startling them enough that they almost fell out of their chair. “Is it drugs? Are you trying to get him to smoke weed too, because I seriously think we should all smoke weed together. I think we still have some of Chris’s old-”

 

“I’m not going to smoke weed with you, Static Man.” Nicholas said firmly. There was an irrational need in the back of his mind to demand Static Man tell him how much he’d heard, but that was ridiculous. That was what guilty people did, and Nicholas had nothing to be guilty about. “How was your… work?” 

 

“Great. Easy. I mean,  _ I’m the best there is at what I do.”  _ Static Man, turning his voice gruff and growly at the end. At Morgan’s blank look he continued. “C’mon man  _ Wolverine _ ? I’m being Wolverine. Just not shitty Hugh Jackman Wolverine.” 

 

“I actually think that Hugh Jackman did a decent job of portraying the character, especially given the weak scripts he was working with. Captured a lot of Logan’s depth.” Nicholas said. 

 

“Dude, why is every opinion you’ve ever had wrong?” Static Man asked. “Actually, don’t answer that. I’m going to bed.  _ Peace!”  _

 

And then he was gone, and Nicholas and Morgan were left watching at the stray sparks left in his wake. 

 

“You don’t think he heard us talking about him, do you?” Nicholas asked.

 

“What? No. He definitely didn’t. I mean, he’s not a subtle person, I think he would’ve like, announced his presence the second he heard his name.”

 

“You’re probably right.” Nicholas shook his head. “Do you want to finish this? I think we have about thirty minutes left.”

 

“I’m good, I think I’m gonna head to bed.” Morgan stood up and stretched. “Have a good night Nicholas.” 

 

“Night, Morgan.” Nicholas turned off Netflix and sat staring at it. It was an older set, and he was transfixed, for just a moment, by the static that danced across its surface. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Static Man and Morgan set up her workshop and discuss weekend plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a... second chapter that I did not expect to write! And now there's an actual plot so buckle up

A few days later, Morgan was down in the basement, setting up the corner that was to become her workshop. Static Man was with her, lifting some of the heavier things (raised plant beds, the entire left side of a black steer, a variety of instruments) and providing a never ending stream of conversation. 

 

It was the kind of thing that probably would have annoyed Morgan under any other circumstances but after the almost unending silence of working at Moody’s, she found the constant reminder of another person comforting. 

 

“Anyway there’s this super cool bar that’s like, totally chill with the unusually-corporated, such as myself, and I keep trying to get Nicholas to go out with me, and he’s all like ‘no Static Man, I’d rather sit here and read the dictionary because I’m boring’,  _ but  _ I was thinking that if the two of us ganged up on him he’d  _ have  _ to say yes.” Static Man explained, setting down the grand piano in the corner. “It’s like, family bonding.”

 

“Does your family bonding usually involve getting smashed?” Morgan asked. She didn’t consider either of them her family, not after only a few months, but her actually family had aged ten years while she’d been gone and even if she did figure out how to contact them, there was no getting them back, not really. If these two were the closest she was going to get, she thought she could live with that. 

 

“Well I grew up Catholic, so yeah.” Morgan snorted, but Static Man pressed on gamely. “C’mon, it would be fun. I could be your wingman! I’m a great wingman.” 

 

Morgan couldn’t help but laugh at that, laughing harder when she saw Static Man’s absurd pout. “I’m sorry but I’m pretty sure ‘wingmen’ haven’t been a thing since shitty 80’s movies.”    
  
“That is so not true. They’re real, and cool, and I’m great at it. And even if you don’t want to put my totally awesome and very real wingmanning skills to the test, it would still be super fun and we should go.” 

 

Morgan hummed noncommittally. “Don’t put the viola next to the trombone. They’ll fight.”

 

“Don’t change the subject.” 

 

“I’m not. I’m thinking about it.” Morgan said. “It’s just- I’m not sure if I’ve seen that many people in one place in- fuck, like a decade? And clubbing was never really my scene to begin with, and-”

 

“Well lemme stop you there. It’s not a ‘club’. I wouldn’t take either of you clubbing, oh my god, can you imagine. Nicholas would catch fire three seconds after entering the building.”

 

Morgan laughed despite herself, and settled down on the piano bench. “Like a vampire on holy ground?” 

 

Static Man nodded.  “Exactly. And anyway, if it’s too much for you we’ll just leave. I’m sure Nicholas will be ready to leave from the second we walk in.”

 

“So why bring him? We could just go the two of us.” Morgan glanced up at him with a smirk. “Are you gonna  _ wingman _ for him too?” 

 

“What happened to the Morgan who didn’t care about my business?” Static Man groaned. Morgan appreciated that they weren’t even going to pretend that she didn’t know that he’d been listening in on her and Nicholas. Which is to say that she hadn’t known, but she’d suspected, and she appreciated that she didn’t have to work very hard to find out for certain. 

 

“I still don’t  _ care.  _ But if I’m only getting dragged out so that you can pine while he stares into the middle distance and broods I’d like to know.” 

 

“That’s not-” Static Man huffed. “There’s no pining. This is a pining-free household. Like sure, he’s super hot, in a dorky kind of way, and funny, and shockingly good in bed, like seriously he-”

 

“I do not want to hear this.” 

 

“Prude. Anyway, like Nicholas is great and all, but he’s also like, my bro. And like, hooking up with your bro is fine and all, y’know, sometimes. But if you do it enough it becomes a relationship, and then that relationship goes badly, and then you’re alone. And anyway monogamy’s just a tool made up by capitalism to sell more houses y’know?”

 

“There’s…” Morgan took a deep breath. “Ok so there’s a lot to unpack there.”

 

“And I would prefer to unpack none of it, and instead go dancing.” Static Man replied.

 

“I can respect that.” Morgan told him. “All right, why not? But you’re buying my drinks.” 

 

“By which you mean Nicholas is buying both of our drinks?” 

 

“Exactly.”  


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So a sorcerer, a musicologist, and an eldritch horror walk into a bar...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a minute, but hey! A chapter! This one takes place in a bar, so be warned that there is some mention of drinking.

 

Static Man hadn’t actually been back to this place since- well,  _ since.  _ It hadn’t changed much though. Same shitty lighting, same beer-and-viscera stained floor, same weird extradimensional Barkeep. There was a pool table now, which was nice. 

 

There was a band playing in one corner, and a few people dancing. Morgan grabbed a beer from the bar before making a beeline for a table by the- admittedly pretty good, if not to Static Man’s taste- band, watching them avidly. Static Man followed Nicholas to the bar, watched him order a bourbon and then gave him a toothy smile until Nicholas sighed and said, “and whatever he wants too.” 

 

“Can I just get a Coors?” He asked. The Barkeep looked a little offended, but she brought them both their drinks anyway. 

 

“I thought the point of you doing jobs without me was so that you could pay for your own stuff?” Nicholas asked, leading them to a booth tucked out of the way. 

 

“Yeah. For like, cool stuff. And Popeye’s. You’re still on the hook for my alcohol until this whole vassal shit’s over with.” Static Man said. 

 

“Can you even  _ get _ drunk? I thought that wouldn’t be possible with your- current genetic makeup.” 

 

“I haven’t been able to yet, but it’s sure fun to try.” Static Man replied cheerfully. Nicholas smiled. 

 

“Well, here’s to experimentation.” He said, clinking their glasses together. 

 

“Dude, you have no idea how often I said that in college.” 

 

“I think I can guess.” Nicholas replied. “You did tell me about the Cowboy Incident.”

“Oh shit, yeah. God that was wild.” He shook his not-head. “Ah, to be young and dumb and on the roof of a school building.”

 

“You and I had  _ very  _ different college experiences.” 

 

“Yep. You were a fucking nerd-” 

 

“And I never got put on disciplinary probation.” 

 

Static Man snorted. “Whatever. I’m gonna go dance. You wanna come?” 

 

Nicholas, as expected, shook his head. “I’m alright here. You have fun.”

 

Static Man hummed in answer, and makes his way onto the dance floor. It wasn’t exactly crowded, but the band was good and the people that were dancing were friendly, and he even got Morgan to dance with him for a few songs. 

 

When the band finished up, Morgan made a beeline for the bassist, and soon the two of them were soon deep in conversation, heads bent together and conspiratorial smiles on their lips. 

 

Static Man snorted and walked back over to where Nicholas was sitting, checking his phone. “We should do shots.” 

 

Nicholas raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry?” 

 

“We should do shots. Y’know, like normal people do at a bar with their friends instead of trying to pull up Project Gutenberg on their phones.”

 

“I wasn’t-” Nicholas started, and then sighed, and quietly closed the Safari tab on his phone. “It was for ritual purposes.” 

 

“Well, unless you’re doing a ritual to be an absolute buzzkill, you should come get drunk with me.” Static Man replied. “I haven’t done a tequila shot in like, a billion years. 

 

“Well, if it’s been a  _ billion  _ years _. _ ” Nicholas said, with a smile that on anyone else Static Man might have called fond. “Where’s Morgan?” 

 

“She is…” Static Man scanned the crowd until caught sight of a familiar dark head. “She is sneaking into the bathroom to hook up with the bassist. Holy  _ shit,  _ she works fast.”

 

“That is… not surprising actually.”

 

And so Nicholas ordered the shots, and Static Man tried, and failed, to get a decent line of salt on his not-hand. 

 

“It keeps slipping through the cracks in my… whatever.” He whined, and then looked at Nicholas assessingly. “Okay, I’m going to need you to be a total bro here…”

 

“Are you about to ask to lick me?”

 

“A little.” 

 

“I don’t-” Nicholas broke off. “If I do this, you have to stop trying to set me up with Ms. Roland’s delivery guy.” 

 

“Fine. Even though he’s cute and funny and totally your type, I will stop being a good bro and trying to set you up.” 

 

“I’m glad to hear it.” Nicholas responded, deadpan, before making two careful lines of salt on his hand. 

 

“Alright.” Static Man said, picking up his glass. “Here’s to you, and here’s to me-”

 

“Absolutely not.” Static Man just sighed. 

 

And then he was absorbed in the motions of salt, shot, lime, fast and just complicated enough that he didn’t have to think about how weird it was that he’d just licked Nicholas, or how familiar the taste of his skin was. 

 

He threw up his not-arms and cheered when Nicholas slammed his shot back down, and was rewarded with a rare, breathless laugh. Nicholas glanced up at him, eyes sparkling. 

 

_ Oh, this is gonna be a problem,  _ Static Man thought, but what he said was, “do you wanna do another shot?” 

 

* * *

And they did. Many, many more shots. At some point Morgan came up to them and told them not to wait up, grinning bassist in tow. She was silver-eyed and too pretty to be anything but City-born, but Morgan was smart; she’d be fine. 

 

He even managed to drag Nicholas onto the dance floor at one point, and Nicholas was no better there than he was in the middle of an eldritch diner, but bless him, he tried. 

 

They whispered to each other in the back of the cab on the way home, ignoring the driver’s terrified glances, and it was the closest Static Man had felt to normal in a long time. 

 

“So what’s the verdict?” Nicholas asked as he unlocked the door to their place.

 

“Huh?” 

 

“Can you get drunk?”

 

“Oh.” Static Man took stock of the feelings in his sort-of body. “Nah. I’m kinda tipsy, but it’s got the same film over it that everything else has.” 

 

“Well, that’s a shame.” Nicholas replied. “But you still should make sure to drink some water before you go to bed.”

 

“Sure, dad.” Static Man snorted, but followed Nicholas obediently to the kitchen, and accepted the glass of water offered to him. 

 

“I had a shockingly good time tonight.” Nicholas said, after a moment of companionable silence. Static Man beamed at him.

“I told you so.” 

 

“Mm. I’m still never doing it again.” 

 

“Sure you’re not.” Static Man replied smugly. 

 

Nicholas glared, but there was no teeth to it, like a kitten playing at ferocity. Static Man moved towards him before he could think better of it, caging Nicholas against the counter.  Nicholas looked back at him like he always did, no matter how many times Static Man told him it would probably be easier to just look away. His blood was the only thing Static Man could hear.

 

“Your blood is really loud.” He said, and oh fuck, that was something he wasn’t supposed to say out loud.

 

Nicholas cocked his head to one side. “Thank you?” 

 

“It’s not like a problem, it’s just-” He broke off. Shook his head, and moved to put some much needed distance between himself and Nicholas. 

 

Nicholas grabbed his wrist. “No, don’t-” 

 

There was a long moment of stillness. Nicholas licked his lips. Static Man tried to think of a way to diffuse the situation.

 

And then Nicholas pulled him in, and Static Man stopped thinking. 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's some kissing in this one lads

Nicholas woke up the next morning with a mild dehydration headache, and a familiar pins-and-needles sensation where his right arm should’ve been.

“Static Man?” Nicholas called.The entity in question lifted his head and gave Nicholas a literally dizzying smile. “You’re um, kind of- I can’t feel my arm, exactly.” 

“Oh shit dude, sorry.” Static Man replied, shifting so that he was no longer sprawled on top of Nicholas. He stretched out contentedly and yawned, revealing rows of sharp teeth. Nicholas rubbed his neck, remembering those teeth at his throat. This was going to be a problem. 

“Hey good-looking.” Static Man said, settling back down with his strange limbs curled under him like some kind of eldritch kitten. 

Nicholas laughed despite himself. All the reasons he shouldn’t have done this were lining up in neat little rows, eager for his attention, but he pushed them aside. “Hello to you too. Did you sleep alright?”

“Like a staticky baby. You?” 

“Mmmm, except for the part where you caused most of my right side to go numb.” 

“I’ll have to make it up to you somehow.” Static Man replied. He shifted so he was back on top of Nicholas and kissed him, slow and sweet.

Nicholas kissed him back, wrapping his arms around Static Man and sighing into his mouth, letting himself relax into the bed for a long, lazy moment before pulling back. “We should probably... talk about this.” 

Static Man groaned, nuzzling into Nicholas’s neck. “But I don’t wanna.” 

“Does that usually work?” Nicholas asked archly.

“Sure. Yeah. Definitely. Like, all the time. Anyway, so now that we’ve agreed that we’re not talking do you wanna-”

“I don’t recall ever agreeing to that.” 

Static Man groaned. He rolled off of Nicholas and into a sitting position, putting himself on the other side of the bed, well out of arm’s reach, and glared as best he could without any kind of orifices that could even loosely be described as eyes. 

“So. Last night was- and I’d be interested in- I just think that given the change in circumstances since the last time we… were intimate-” Static Man snorted at that, but Nicholas ignored him and pressed on. “That it might be in our best interests to… discuss. What this is.” 

Static Man shrugged. “I mean it doesn’t have to be anything. And you know you’re not actually my boss, right? Like you are, but like, you can’t exactly fire me. I mean I guess you could, because you could just like, turn the tape recorder off, but you wouldn’t do that. So I’m not super worried about the whole vassal thing.”

“I appreciate that, but the fact remains that there is, by the virtue of our situation, a power imbalance, and I-”

“Oh my god that is way too many big words for 9 A.M.” 

“Alright. Well, if you’re not going to take this seriously-” Nicholas began, getting out of bed and beginning to move away. 

“I am! Jesus Christ, dude, you don’t need to jump down my throat.” Static Man said. He grabbed Nicholas’s wrist and pulled him back towards the bed. “Like yeah, this is kind of a weird situation. I would also rather not be your magic knight-slash-serf, or whatever. But I trust that you’re not going to- that you won’t use that to hurt me.” 

He caught Nicholas’s eye, and said, very slowly and deliberately. “I trust you, Nicholas.” 

“Oh.” There was something Nicholas should say in response to that, probably, but he had no idea what it was. Instead, he let Static Man reel him in and pull him onto his lap. 

“So like, y’know. We’re good. And I’m good with continuing to do… whatever.” Static Man shrugged again, a dizzying motion. “Are you?” 

“Yes, I… Yes. I am- very good with whatever. Yeah.” 

“Rad.” Static Man said, and he pulled Nicholas down, not-hand firm on the back of his neck, and kissed him soundly. 

And then the door banged open. 

“I figured out how to get Static Man’s spinal fl-” Morgan began, before stopping abruptly. She and Nicholas shared a terrifying moment of eye contact before she looked away, turning slightly so she was staring at the doorframe. Static Man was snickering quietly, and Nicholas swatted him. “I’m gonna- I’m gonna go downstairs and make some coffee. You two come down when you’re… done.” 

“Great.” Nicholas said, searching wildly for his dignity and coming up empty. “You go do that. We will be down in-” 

“Like thirty minutes. Or more. Probably more.” Static Man cut in. “Bye, Morgan!” 

And then she was gone, before Nicholas could salvage the situation. He shifted to glare at Static Man, who was beaming. 

“You’re impossible.” He said.

“By almost every definition.” Static Man agreed cheerfully. He kissed the edge of Nicholas’s jaw. “It’s a good thing I’m such a delight to be around.” 

It took Nicholas ten of their allotted thirty minutes to stop laughing, and another five to get Static Man to stop pouting about it. But they made do.

**Author's Note:**

> static man DEFINITELY heard them


End file.
